


Chocolatier

by ryuuseirune



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Chocolate, Fluff, M/M, Valentine's Day, no beta we die like Glenn, sylvain is dumb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-14
Updated: 2020-02-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:06:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22733785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ryuuseirune/pseuds/ryuuseirune
Summary: Four times Sylvain gives chocolates to Felix, and one time he receives a box in return.[timeskip spoilers]edit (02.16.20) // updated for easier reading!
Relationships: Felix Hugo Fraldarius/Sylvain Jose Gautier
Comments: 7
Kudos: 62





	Chocolatier

**Author's Note:**

> self-indulgent valentine's day fic since i felt gooey with my bf
> 
> cf/am spoilers  
> byleth is nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns, sylvain is literally a fool until the last two paragraphs, sylvain-centric, swearing/cussing at the end, they talk it out when byleth comes back because i'm miserable, yeehaw times only

A young Sylvain reaches for his mother’s hands, gripping at her fingers as she pulls him along. In his left hand, he holds a heavy bag, nearly dragging it on the stone pavement. “Sylvain, carry those gifts properly,” his mother scolds, her tone only a little reprimanding. “Those are for your friends, you know.”

“Why are we even giving them gifts? Didn’t Seiros Day happen last moon?” Sylvain whines, digging his heels into the dirt and stumbling when his mother keeps walking. She shakes her head, clearly annoyed at Sylvain’s lack of cooperation. He doesn’t stop complaining. “Mooom, it’s cold! Why couldn’t we bring a carriage?”

She ignores his question about the carriage and instead begrudgingly answers the first. “It’s Valentine’s Day, Sylvain, and if we’re to keep good relations with the other Faerghus lords, then we must exchange gifts as often as possible,” she explains. It’s not like Sylvain understands the importance of lordship or gift-exchanging, but he doesn’t ask anymore questions until they arrive at a large white building.

“Why are we even here? Where’s Dad?” he inquires, more befuddled than upset. His mother shoots him a glare, but quickly corrects her expression, faking a smile.

“We’re here to see your friends,” she repeats through gritted teeth, and hauls him up the stairs and into the front door. When they enter together, they’re greeted by – surprise! – Sylvain’s father and a bunch of other people Sylvain couldn’t care less about. Ingrid, with her blonde hair cut short and an incredibly loud voice, is recognizable in the corner of the hall. Felix clings to Glenn’s cape, and Dimitri is probably somewhere, but when Sylvain’s eyes land on the Fraldarius brothers, he sees no one and nothing but Felix. Before his mother can react, Sylvain runs to Felix and Glenn, tote bag in hand, and gives them both a big hug.

“Sylvain!” the two brothers squeal. He’s comforted by their familiar figures amongst all of the strange adults, and a nice warm embrace is just about the best thing a nine-year-old Sylvain has experienced since last Seiros Day.

Sylvain’s stubby hands reach into the bag and search for their gifts. He brandishes the presents, waving them around like a dual-wielding swordsman. Felix cheers him on and Glenn politely claps before Sylvain hands them both their presents. Felix bounds toward Rodrigue, begging him to please let Felix open it, pretty please. Rodrigue eventually relents to Felix’s puppy-dog eyes, and Felix’s cheeks seem to glow with glee. Glenn is more patient, and he sets the box to the side. Rodrigue gives him a slight nod, and in a flash, Glenn’s curiosity spills out of him, and he tears open the wrapping paper as Felix is already reaching in to marvel at the sheer number of chocolates in the box.

It’s a Gautier specialty, Sylvain overhears his mother borderline bragging, made only by the best… or whatever. He’s not sure he cares about who it’s made by unless Glenn and Felix and Ingrid and Dimitri enjoy the taste. A pleasantly surprised hum comes from the blonde tomboy, who sticks her hands into Sylvain’s bag and rummages through it to find her own box without even asking. Not that Sylvain cares, however – the grins on his friends’ faces are more than enough to draw warmth to every part of his body, flushing his cheeks red even in the crisp air.

“Thish ish so goob!” Ingrid garbles, her cheeks packed with the Gautier chocolates. She looks silly – not at all ladylike, but Sylvain doesn’t mind. Chewing gives her difficulty, though, and Sylvain watches on with slight worry before Felix’s excited commentary on the sweets draws his attention away again. Somehow Dimitri’s also waltzed in, and he’s nodding quietly to Felix’s detailed descriptions. 

Sylvain rifles through the gift boxes again to find the box labeled with Dimitri’s name, and he presents it to his friend. Dimitri thanks him, a bit formally, and Felix gives him an encouraging nudge. Dimitri tugs the ribbon and pulls the cover off – and Sylvain finally gets a peek at the wide variety of candy. Round, rectangular, heart-shaped, cylindrical… Sylvain hadn’t seen anything like it. White chocolate, milk chocolate, dark chocolate… Filled with caramel and topped with tiny flower-shaped sprinkles… and his mother didn’t bring him a box?

He turns to face his mother, but she's already mingling with the other nobles. Sylvain frowns slightly, but a poke on his cheek makes him look back. “Wha-?”

As soon as he opens his mouth, Felix places a piece of chocolate between his teeth. Sylvain makes a surprised “mmph!” in response, but he doesn't complain. The chocolate is rich and creamy for its size, and it definitely has an addicting flavor. Sylvain is suddenly grateful his mom didn’t buy him a box – he knew he would eat it all and get sick. Sylvain’s thoughts are disrupted when Felix begins hurling questions at him, hyper-charged with way too much sugar.

“Wasn’t it so yummy?” the younger boy raves, “It tasted so good!”

Sylvain can't help but agree.

\--

There's not a single Valentine’s Day where Sylvain hasn’t gotten drab marriage proposals. The notes are usually enclosed in boxes of chocolates from random girls, which are expensive, store-bought, and too gaudy for his tastes. Of course, sweets from his friends are often homemade, and they're always accompanied by (superior) handwritten note. From most women, he receives gifts that are too showy, too desperate for Crest-bearing blood. That’s why Sylvain decides he’s only going to save gifts from close friends, and he’ll dump the rest in the trash.

Felix, too, probably gets chocolate for Valentine’s. But among the pearl-adorned boxes and flashy heart-shaped sweets, there are quiet thank-yous from fair maidens who Felix saved from a bandit’s relentless blade, who penned love letters late into the night, thinking of Felix and Felix only, not his Crest, not his blood. Sylvain feels lonely just thinking about it. Felix’s life isn’t branded by the Fraldarius signa, and he’s never needed to care about Crests.

Sylvain hums as he twirls his spoon, picking at his cheese gratin. Hot, melted cheese flies through the air, and tiny molten droplets land on Dimitri’s cheek, which the prince instinctively licks off. Sylvain winces. “That’s disgusting.”

Dimitri, who is too busy eating his own meal, ignores him. Sylvain drops it and instead bothers Ingrid, who shoots him a glare with her mouth too full to respond. When she, too, loses interest, Sylvain’s eyes flicker toward Felix’s empty seat. He hadn’t shown for dinner that day, despite the Professor’s announcement that they’d be distributing chocolates to all students at dinner. Even Felix’s dislike of sweets couldn’t let him turn down a gift from his well-meaning teacher.

“Sylvain,” a quiet voice calls, pulling him from his pondering, “these are for you.” The professor holds out a small box of chocolates with both hands – a polite way of giving gifts in Fodlan – and Sylvain gives them a grateful smile as he accepts it. The professor pulls out three boxes, one for Ingrid, one for Dimitri, and… Sylvain pauses. Professor Byleth notices it too, quirking their head in a questioning manner. “Sylvain, where’s Felix?”

Sylvain’s brow furrows. “I don’t know, he hasn’t shown up for dinner,” he explains, shoving his spoon into the scorching-hot gratin. “Have you checked the training grounds?"

Byleth shifts their weight onto one foot to support their large bag, which holds even more presents. “I came here from the training grounds, actually. I wanted to get some training in before we visit the Holy Tomb, just in case.”

Ingrid’s already eating her chocolates, but she’s still listening enough to give the professor a questioning look.

“I’m just worried something will happen, that’s all,” Professor explains, shrugging their shoulders. Their vivid green eyes fall to the floor, as if they’re dreading something. Sylvain doesn’t question, a bit more concerned that Felix wasn’t training or at dinner.

Ashe, from the next table over, shouts that he might be in his room. The professor sighs and shakes their head. “I told everyone to come to the dining hall, and I’m not going to go trekking up and down Garreg Mach for him. Even if Felix is a great student,” they say.

Sylvain finds himself responding too quickly. “I’ll give it to him after dinner. He’s probably feeling sick, and our rooms are next to each other, so it’s convenient, right?” he explains a little too much, holding out his hands. They give him a look of suspicion, but hand him the box anyway.

“I trust you,” they say. “Don’t you dare drop this box.”

Sylvain gives Byleth a dumb grin and places his box next to the cheese gratin in front of him. They reach for the box and move it below Sylvain’s seat. Before he can ask, the professor is already explaining. “It’ll melt,” they say.

And after dinner, Sylvain finds himself standing in front of Felix’s door, holding the box tightly to his chest. He makes sure not to tilt it and spill Felix’s chocolates, and knocks on the door.

No response.

Sylvain knocks again, a little harder this time, and this time, a loud meow and an annoyed yelp respond. The door swings open to reveal a cat-fur covered Felix and a pudgy long-haired cat. “What is it? I’m busy,” Felix huffs, voice tinted with annoyance.

“It’s Valentine’s Day,” Sylvain starts. Felix’s face first falls into a glare, but then the fat orange-haired cat butts against Felix’s leg and lets out a needy cry. He sighs in defeat, reaches down and pets the cat, and looks at Sylvain expectantly. Sylvain wonders if Felix forgot about the professor’s pre-graduation Valentine chocolates.

“I know,” Felix says incredulously, “I got gifts from our classmates… and some other people.” Sylvain’s eyes drift to the two separate piles of Valentine’s gifts behind Felix. There’s a pile of pink and red ribbons which look like they’ve been chewed relentlessly. Sylvain glances at the cat. Was that glitter on its mouth?

“Uh, is this cat yours…?” Sylvain questions as the cat tries to devour his shoelaces. Pets weren’t allowed in the dorm rooms, yet clearly Felix had been taking care of the fat feline.

“Don’t tell anyone.”

“I won’t.”

Felix lets out another exasperated sigh and peers outside, checking if there are others around him. “Get inside,” he commands, “before she runs off.”

Sylvain strides in as Felix closes the door behind him. He’s still holding the chocolates when Felix asks him something he’s not expecting.

“Who are those for?” Felix questions, in almost an accusing manner. “Why are you here?"

“They’re for you, Felix,” Sylvain offers, holding the box out toward Felix. The boy runs his hand through his black hair.

“Seriously? Are you stupid?” he scoffs. Despite his dismissive expression, he holds one hand out to take it from Sylvain.

“They’re from the professor,” Sylvain explains, shoving it into Felix’s hands. “Remember? We’re graduating soon?”

Felix’s eyes grow wide. “Shit. I forgot about that,” he mumbles, placing the box on his desk. When Felix’s back is turned, the orange cat stands up on its hind legs and rests its paws into Sylvain’s uniform pants with a loud meow. Unfortunately, its claws poke through the fabric and prick his skin, sending tiny jolts through Sylvain’s leg.

“Ow,” Sylvain cringes, more startled than injured. Felix crouches down and grasps the cat’s legs, unhooking its claws from Sylvain’s pants. The cat nearly whimpers and tries to shove its face against the back of Felix’s hand, begging for a gentle massage. Felix lets the cat do as it desires, with a fondness in his eyes that Sylvain rarely sees these days.

“Are you going to eat those chocolates?” Sylvain asks, trying to keep the conversation going.

“What are you, Ingrid?” Felix quips, the cat pressing its tiny pink nose into Felix’s bruised knuckles. “Stop it, Snickerdoodle, your nose is snotty.”

Sylvain swallows his laugh, but he can’t hold back the air that rushes through his nose with a loud snort. Felix gives him the stink eye. “Snickerdoodle? Really?” he chuckles.

“Shut up or get out,” Felix says.

Sylvain doesn’t say another word as he sits down with a soft thud and scratches the cat behind its ears. It purrs with a low vibration, and Sylvain can feel the corners of his mouth turn up. Felix seems satisfied with only the cat’s quiet vocalizations, but he hadn’t answered Sylvai’s question, and he probably wouldn’t eat the chocolate.

After about ten minutes, Felix’s stomach growls. It’s Sylvain’s turn to give Felix “the look,” and this time, Felix can’t meet his eyes. Instead, he reaches for the box of chocolates, popping it open and staring at the treats inside. The cat mewls at the sudden withdrawal, but Felix ignores it, his eyes fixated on the sweets.  
“Is something wrong?”

Felix shakes his head. “No, it’s just…” He gestures to the box.

Sylvain leans over to peek inside, and he’s surprised by what he sees. The chocolates are various shapes. Some of them are simple circles with the Fraldarius crest carved into them, but others are mini swords and shields. Clearly, the professor had put a lot of work into these chocolates. Sylvain scrambles for his own box and slides the top off. He hadn’t taken a look earlier.

Sylvain’s chocolates are an assortment of brown and white dragons and horses. One of the chocolates has a crude stick figure of Sylvain and someone with a bowl cut – was that Lorenz? Sylvain squints at the tiny writing in the speech bubble next to Lorenz’s head, which reads, “your beauty is comparable to that of a lily!” In Sylvain’s speech bubble, the writing reads, “finding you here… feels like fate.” Instantly, Sylvain feels embarrassed. The professor had seen his failed attempt at wooing a woman.

Felix leans over to look at Sylvain’s chocolates, but he quickly rushes to put the cover back on. “Hey, these are special chocolates,” Sylvain hisses, batting away Felix’s hand playfully.

“I let you look at mine, dumbass,” Felix nearly rolls his eyes, but Sylvain refuses to relent. He embraces the box, stroking it as if it were precious. Felix grimaces in disgust, but instead of holding onto the feeling, the boy settles for biting into one of his own chocolates. Felix chews. And swallows.

“Is...is it good?”

“It’s decent,” Felix says. Sylvain’s satisfied with that.

\--

Council meetings with the remnants of Faerghus are absolutely the second worst thing on Valentine’s Day, he thinks. Sylvain doesn’t enjoy being cooped up on Gautier territory, half-heartedly negotiating another treaty with Sreng leaders while shadowing his father. There’s no point in trying to solve the Sreng issue – anything Sylvain suggests will just get shot down by his father. Fortunately, the war with Sreng isn’t even close in terms of brutal when compared to the war against the Empire. It’s not pretty, seeing his men spread far too thin over Gautier borders, struggling to keep up with the Empire’s relentless attacks, but it’s a necessary evil, he thinks. Even if Edelgard wants to destroy Crests too.

When the political garbage stops coming out of some fool’s mouth, Sylvain leaves, too tired to listen any longer. Nothing really makes sense to him, regardless of how hard he tries, and honestly, he just can’t bring himself to care. He runs away to a brothel first, and after a session, he can’t even stand looking at women anymore, not when they remind him of the reason why this dreadful war began.

Crests are stupid, Sylvain thinks. And he wishes he’d followed the professor when they’d stood against Rhea – stood against everything that Sylvain hated, everything he was – and he wishes he could go back and do something, anything –

He enters a shop on the side of the road before he can think any more thoughts. There’s a confused girl at the counter, staring at him while she boxes up something, and the sweet smell hits him. A candy store? Sylvain searches for his best pickup line but finds nothing, and instead, the girl’s charisma convinces him to buy a box of chocolates for a non-existent lover. He really messed that one up.

Next, he finds himself at a bar. He downs two beers with ease, feeling fuzzy but not too fuzzy, and maybe a bit tipsy. And when he’s half gone and thinking about how he’s going to get home, he hears someone loudly call his name.

“Sylvain!” a voice rings throughout the saloon, loud enough to alert him but not enough to be disruptive. He spins around on the barstool and sees Felix standing at the entrance, staring at him. Felix stomps over and grabs Sylvain’s arm, forcing him to stand.

“What are you doing ‘ere?” Sylvain slurs out, clearly drunker than he thought he was.

Felix frowns. “You need to rest,” he grumbles, “we might be on the front lines tomorrow.”

Sylvain gazes back, unfazed. “I bought you this,” he says with uncertainty. He reaches for the box and lamely waves it in front of Felix’s amber eyes. Felix reluctantly takes the box, surprising Sylvain.

“Thanks.”

“Huh, I didn’t think you’d actually take it,” Sylvain remarks, still forgetting his filter. Clearly, Felix doesn’t have the energy to argue – he’s not sure either of them do. After Felix pays the bill, Sylvain’s dragged to some local inn, and Felix books two separate rooms (“Aw, Felix, don’t you want to sleep together?” he wants to ask, but he doesn’t). Sylvain’s not exactly sure what’s going on, but he manages to remain conscious while Felix shoves him onto a bed and asks him if he’s eaten anything. He can hardly remember the contents of the last meal he had, nor can he remember if he’s even had a meal recently.

“No wonder you’re so drunk from only a few drinks,” Felix muses, “It’s not like you to act like this.” Sylvain’s not sure what that means, but Felix continues anyway. “I’ll get you some pea soup since that’s all they have downstairs.”

Sylvain can’t control his cackles. “Pee soup,” he wails, unable to stop himself from tearing up. Felix looks like he’s about to punch a hole through the wall, but he doesn’t.

And when Felix returns with soup and shares Sylvain’s own gift, the redhead can’t help but be happy.

\--

After Byleth shows up at their reunion claiming they had a five-year-long nap and Dimitri’s actually not fully dead, Sylvain’s not sure what exactly is going on. He’s pretty sure Dimitri wants to simultaneously kiss and punch their ex-professor in the face for choosing Edelgard, who wasn’t even in the professor’s house, but Dimitri is so far gone that Sylvain can’t be sure if he wants to vent or not.

Either way, the professor makes things work. Edelgard arrives at the monastery mid-bandit murder, and Dimitri nearly runs her through with Areadbhar, but the professor somehow predicts his every move, as if they’ve seen him attack her a million times. Claude, too, stumbles in, and somehow, under the professor’s guidance, murder does not occur.

Instead, the professor (very angrily) forces Claude, Dimitri, and Edelgard to “talk it out”. Sylvain doesn’t know all the details, but he sure knows some of them: Edelgard and Dimitri are related by marriage. Dimitri thought Edelgard murdered his family. Edelgard did not murder Dimitri’s family, and instead, the weird evil voodoo people who did blood experiments on her and Lysithea murdered Dimitri’s family. Claude said he felt like a third (fourth?) wheel, but it wasn’t as bad as that one time in Abyss where…

Sylvain fell asleep in the middle of it, and honestly he couldn’t care less. There’s no fear of fighting former classmates, Crests are terrible creations and everyone agrees, and now the war is less about three factions trying to destroy each other and more about three factions trying to destroy the weird blood-obsessed shapeshifters. And he’s okay with that. Their militaries assemble in Garreg Mach for a march toward Shambhala.

Most of his time is spent cleaning every corner of his old room. Five years have turned it from a spotless, mess-free room to a dusty, cobweb-covered insect nest. Initially, the carpet was moldy, and he had to burn it outside of the dormitory and pay a merchant to make him a new one. Sylvain is pretty miserable when he notices that the number of cobwebs increases exponentially whenever he cleans out an area. Eventually, he just leaves his door open so that the cats can come in and eat whatever bug they want. No one complains.

When Valentine’s Day comes, the professor is the first to give out gifts. During one of their early-morning pep talks, they pass out boxes of candy again.

“It’s almost as if I just did this for everyone a few months ago,” Byleth sighs, “because that’s how it feels to me."

Sylvain almost pities them. Everyone has grown except for Byleth, he thinks, but then he remembers that he still feels exactly the same amount of idiot as he did five years ago and decides not to comment on it. This time, however, Sylvain came prepared: he ordered approximately fifty boxes of gourmet chocolate to pass out to both former students and teachers, and then he blamed it on nostalgia.

And he definitely had at least one box to himself this time. Or at least he was pretty sure he did, until Seteth heard a rumor that Sylvain was going to give chocolate to Flayn (he was, but not romantically) and threw out 16 of his boxes before Sylvain found him and begged him to stop. He wasn’t too upset about it, but he was a little bit miffed that Seteth hadn’t even eaten what was inside. All of those chocolates had gone to waste in Sylvain’s mind.

But it’s fine, Sylvain assures himself. Everything will be fine. And most things are fine, just as he planned – Sylvain gives everyone chocolate, says “Happy Valentine’s Day!” enough to make his throat dry and no one punches him or calls him terrible because he’s only doing this out of the kindness of his heart.

Except he can’t find Felix. Where was he? Sylvain kicks himself for not bringing all the chocolates to the morning meeting, but at the time, he didn’t want to steal Byleth’s spotlight. He felt even more foolish now, and with only a few hours left in the day, he couldn’t find Felix at all. In the worst case scenario, Sylvain would just have to give Felix the chocolate tomorrow. But it wasn’t the same, was it?

Sylvain finds himself at Felix’s door, but this time, it swings open when he knocks once, nearly falling off its hinge. Felix is sitting down and surrounded by cats – one overweight orange tabby and many, many kittens. When their eyes meet, Felix’s eyes scream murder.

“Shit, I’m sorry, Fe,” he starts, but Felix cuts him off.

“Don’t say a single word,” he snaps, “I don’t want to hear it.”

Sylvain holds out the chocolate box as a peace offering, and Felix’s eyes soften for a moment before his expression hardens once more. 

“Be my Valentine?” Sylvain teases. It comes out as less of a joke and more of a beg, though, and he doesn't know what to think.

“Don’t joke about that,” Felix hisses, frustration lacing his voice. Sylvain regrets his word choice, but Felix relaxes his shoulders. “You shouldn’t say that if you’re not serious, you know.”

Sylvain somehow feels betrayed by Felix’s words, but he’s relieved that the other man hasn’t sliced his hand off yet. Even though he wasn’t serious, Sylvain still feels like it could have been. He passes the box to Felix and sits next to him on the hardwood floor. “Hey, Fe. Do you remember eating this when we were kids?”

Felix slowly removes the box’s lid. There’s no childish glow to Felix’s war-witnessing eyes, nor do his hands shake like an inexperienced swordsman. But Sylvain still sees Felix’s slight smile and feels like he’s received the world for Valentine’s Day.

“Only vaguely,” Felix responds, picking up that same chocolate he’d once fed Sylvain.

“Then I’ll just keep buying you the same things,” Sylvain states triumphantly, “so you won’t ever forget the flavor."

“That’s boring,” he says, but Felix’s silly smirk says otherwise.

\--

Five more years pass since the defeat of those who slither in the dark, but Sylvain never forgets Valentine tradition. Each year, he mails a box of chocolates directly to Felix’s residence, which is always accompanied by a handwritten letter so Felix is reminded that Sylvain’s gifts aren’t thoughtless. This year, however, he would see Felix in person. Their entire class would meet at Garreg Mach for a “fun Valentine’s Day ball,” organized by Byleth themselves. Sylvain replies promptly to Byleth’s invitation, and he writes Duke Fraldarius many letters requesting his presence at the ball before he receives a quickly-scribbled note saying “I’ll be there.”

Their territories are so close that Sylvain and Felix see each other at least once a month, but it hardly feels like enough time for Sylvain. A Valentine’s Day ball would give him the opportunity to see old friends and spend well-deserved time with Felix.

The one-week trip to Garreg Mach feels more grueling than necessary. Felix and Sylvain normally travel to the monastery together, but Felix couldn’t travel with Sylvain because of a “prior arrangement.” Sylvain longs for his friend’s presence, but he’s fine in the end. This year, he would finally give Felix the most extravagant box of chocolates (but not too extravagant because he needed Felix to understand Sylvain’s desire to give Felix a proper gift). He’s extra-careful not to tilt the box or break the chocolates accidentally while he trots his way through the snow on horseback.

And when he finally gets to the monastery, when he finally gets to see Felix for the first time in not-so long, he hugs the other man tightly. Felix doesn’t complain, and returns the embrace, making him feel light and floaty and tingly and like he wasn’t fully there.

It’s a surprise when Felix pulls out a gift box first. It shakes him so much that Sylvain feels tears prick his eyes. Felix looks at Sylvain, almost in confusion, with hesitation, and holds it out toward him. “Sylvain,” he starts.

Sylvain somehow feels all the blood in his body rush to his brain, making him light-headed. “Yeah, Fe?”

“... you,” Felix mumbles, nudging Sylvain’s chest with the box. He shakes his head and clears his throat, saying it louder this time. “I love you.”

With those three words, everything finally clicks for Sylvain. He loves Felix. He loves everything about Felix. It explains everything to Sylvain’s pea-sized brain – his longing, the gifts he gave Felix, the chase, and most of all, the persistent tingle in his chest – he finally understands. Sylvain Jose Gautier loves Felix Hugo Fraldarius.

And Sylvain Jose Gautier feels like a massive fool. He grasps the chocolate box in his hands and pulls Felix into another hug, “Fuck the chocolates.”

Felix says something, but it's muffled and confused and unintelligible. Sylvain doesn’t know what to say, he doesn’t know what to do, but he knows he’s good at one thing –

“I’d rather fuck you,” he whispers.

Felix laughs into Sylvain’s chest and everything feels so right.


End file.
